Organic Chemistry?

[Avicenna04]

Do we really need to memorize all those reactions we memorized when we took the class? Ie, what PCC does, etc. Because i'm really not up for doing that again.

Also, what is this i hear about them putting less organic chem on the MCAT. Does that mean the BS section has more biology passages? Or does it just mean that the organic passages are much simpler?


Cheers,

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[koopa_troopa]

To be honest, I only memorized a few reactions (PCC was one of them ). From the practice tests they rarely ask you what are the products/reactants in the discretes. Usually organic questions come from a passage and you can figure out the gist of the mechanism from that. I took the May 31 MCAT and I only recall one passage on organic.

 

[Avicenna04]

Hmmm.... so if there is usually only one passage on organic on the exams, why does kaplan have 15 chapters on it? Mind you i have 2004 kaplan books. You're saying most of your BS section passages were on biology then?

 

[AppleseedCast]

I was told organic chemistry would constitute a lower proportion of the BS section, however my friend who wrote the test earlier this year told me otherwise. It's really hard to tell at this point what they will do.

As for the reactions, you probably don't have to know them all but have general reaction schemas in mind. For example, I always classified KMnO4, Pyridinium chlorochromate, and the jones reagant together because they all similarly oxidize when used in reaction. A shortcut like this probably would not help you during a written organic chemistry exam or even the ACS, but would be fine for the mcat BS section.

 

[koopa_troopa]

Hmmm.... so if there is usually only one passage on organic on the exams, why does kaplan have 15 chapters on it? Mind you i have 2004 kaplan books. You're saying most of your BS section passages were on biology then?

My 2007 Kaplan also has 15 chapters on organic still. But I think only 10 of those were 'real' organic chem reactions and stuff. The other 3-5 (?) were on biochemistry (DNA, RNA, proteins) and lab techniques (chromatography, extractions). overall I feel there is little memorization required for the MCAT in general.

 

[vicinihil]

i feel like of the orgo, biochem would play a larger role.

 

[brewmeistervi]

When I was being trained by Princeton Review, they told me that orgo was being moved down the priority list... and that genetics and biochem are playing larger roles... But when I took the exam in 2006, i think that 30 to 40 percent was organic.

 

[Avicenna04]

Hmmm.... Well i guess we have to study it no matter what. But still, would of been nice to know how many questions we would get on it.... so we can allocate our study time better.

 

[TheGreatHunt]

PCC is pretty much a must memorize... along with H2CrO4, LiAlH4, NaBH4

You should know all your carbonyl chemistry really well, that's where a lot of the heart of O-chem lies... JMHO, that and it's really easy to learn.